Wake of the Red Witch (1948)





Sea Captain Ralls (John Wayne) sinks the Red Witch, a sailing vessel owned by Batjak, Ltd., a Dutch East Indies Trading Company. An investigation by the Maritime Commission is stopped by Mayrant Ruysdaal Sidneye (Luther Adler), the head of Batjak. Ralls, along with his partner Sam Rosen (Gig Young) and mate Ripper (Paul Fix), sets out on an old schooner to hunt for pearls in a South Sea Island lagoon, but they are drawn there by a more valuable treasure.

Sidneye tells Sam a tale of rivalry between him and Ralls. Seven years prior, the crew of Sidneye's schooner rescued Ralls from shark-infested waters. The two men joined forces to take pearls from a Polynesian island, but both fell in love with Angelique Desaix (Gail Russell) and began a bitter enmity. Angelique eventually died of a tropical disease, leaving both men to continue their rivalry.

In pursuit of the Red Witch, sunk with a cargo of gold bullion, Sidneye agrees to split the profits with Ralls if he can retrieve the gold. However, Ralls loses his life while diving, and Sidneye is left broken. Ralls' spirit sails away with Angelique on the ghostly Red Witch.



Film programs

Illustrierte Film Bühne nr. 869

Books with substantial mentioning of Wake of the Red Witch

Fred Landesman
The John Wayne Filmography
Jefferson, North Carolina, and London, 2004

Mark Ricci, Boris Zmijewsky, Steve Zmijewsky
The Complete Films of John Wayne
New York, NY, 1995